Biography:

Presbyterian clergyman; advocate of improved race relations in the South.  Born– May 21, 1915, Birmingham, Ala. Parents– Walter Patterson and Mary McLeod McNeill. Married– Jeanne Lancaster, August 25, 1944. Children– Two. Education– A.B., Birmingham Southern College, 1936; B.D., Union Theological Seminary, 1942; M.A. University of Kentucky, 1944; graduate work, University of Alabama, University of North Carolina. Employed as correspondent, Linde Air Products, 1937-1939. Ordained a Presbyterian minister, 1942; Minister to students at the University of Kentucky, 1942-44; at the University of Texas, Austin, 1944-45.  Pastor at Fairfield Highlands Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, 1945-47;  Jacksonville Presbyterian, 1947-51; First Presbyterian, Columbus, Ga., 1951-59; Bream Memorial Presbyterian Church, Charleston, W.V. , 1968-75; taught at Wilkesboro Community College, NC, 1968-75.  Focus of a nationally publicized controversy over race relations, 1957-59, resulting in his firing from the Columbus church. Died July 15, 1975.

Source:

Contemporary Authors online.

Stephens, Jessica.  The Standoff: First Presbyterian Church of Columbus, Georgia, Robert McNeill, and Racial Equality.  MA thesis, Auburn University, 2011.

Publication(s):

God Wills Us Free; the Ordeal of a Southern Minister. New York; Hill & Wang, 1965.

Prophet, Speak Now. Richmond, Va.; John Knox, 1961.